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The Sower
Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875)
1850
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
101.6 x 82.6 cm (40 x 32 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy Adams Shaw, Jr., and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton
Accession Number17.1485
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
With a bag of seed slung over his shoulder and his legs wrapped in straw for warmth, Millet’s peasant strides down a twilit hillside, sowing winter wheat. His monumental scale and dramatic pose signaled Millet’s new approach to the depiction of peasant life, emphasizing the dignity—even heroism—of rural labor. Exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1850, The Sower made the painter famous virtually overnight.
Catalogue Raisonné
Murphy 18
InscriptionsLower left: J. F. Millet
ProvenanceAbout 1851/1852, sold by the artist to William Morris Hunt (b. 1824 - d. 1879), Boston [see note 1]; 1874, sold by Hunt to Doll and Richards, Boston, for Quincy Adams Shaw (b. 1825 - d. 1908), Boston; 1917, gift of Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy Adams Shaw, Jr. and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton, to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 29, 1917)
NOTES:
[1] Alexandra R. Murphy, "Jean-François Millet" (Boston: MFA, 1984), pp. 31-34, cat. no. 18.
NOTES:
[1] Alexandra R. Murphy, "Jean-François Millet" (Boston: MFA, 1984), pp. 31-34, cat. no. 18.